Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam on Thursday said that all petrol and gas stations and shopping malls in DNCC must have accessible, gender-friendly, properly maintained public toilets with separate sections for females and males.
He also highlighted the importance of collaboration between the government, civil society organisations, non-profit organisations and different private sector entities to tackle this issue.
The Mayor came up with the remarks while attending a roundtable discussion, titled ‘South Asian Exchange on Public Sanitation’ as the chief guest, held at the capital’s Lakeshore Hotel, according to a media release.
He also announced that “From now on in the public toilets, we can include any kind of advertisement to improve the financial sustainability.” He assured that the DNCC will provide their full support for all kinds of public sanitation initiatives by NGOs and the private sector.
The event was backed by WaterAid, the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Kimberly-Clark.
Delegates and stakeholders shared their experiences and insights regarding public sanitation awareness and requirements for improvement during the exchange, while an immersive exhibition also sheds light on innovative models that can help address some of the long-persisting public health concerns.
Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and Pakistan are long known to constantly tackle critical health, hygiene, and sanitation challenges. Focusing on this issue, the South Asian Exchange on Public Sanitation witnessed a collaboration between WaterAid South Asia Regional Office and the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) for inter-country visits to public toilets in Bangladesh, Nepal and India, that shall enable knowledge sharing and understanding of management modality among the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector representatives from the three countries.
The roundtable and exhibition were attended by Md Akbar Hossain, deputy secretary of the Local Government Division; Dr Md Khairul Islam, regional director, South Asia of WaterAid; Hasin Jahan, country director of WaterAid Bangladesh; Prof V Srinivas Chary, director of Centre for Urban Governance, Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure Development, ASCI; visiting delegates from Nepal and India as well as government, non-government, civil society and private sector representatives from Bangladesh. Shyamal Dutta, general secretary of the National Press Club, moderated the dialogue.
Hasin Jahan, country director of WaterAid Bangladesh, said, “WaterAid Bangladesh, in partnership with DNCC, has already designed and built several public toilets, which are currently benefiting thousands of common people. Establishing reliable public sanitation points is a prerequisite for achieving SDG 6 and ensuring access to safe water and sanitation for all.”
“We believe our innovations will be embraced and scaled up by the government. We will continue working with the DNCC and other city corporations and municipalities in the country to ensure clean, green, accessible and gender-friendly public sanitation systems”.
An exhibition on recent innovations in the same regard was also organised at the event, which showcased O&M Models (Bangladesh), Social Enterprise (Bangladesh), Social Audit (India), Innovation Projects (India), and Bus Tour Awareness Campaign (Nepal). During the session, delegates and stakeholders provided insights on thematic elements of inclusion for the state of public toilets, operations and maintenance, public-private partnerships, innovation, and monitoring.
